Tonight's task was to help one of Kingston's amazing local charities, RAK (Refugee Action Kingston) . RAK help out refugees in the area to integrate, live fulfilling, independent lives and become recognised and active participants in their local communities. Part of this involves the provision of clothing and other essential items. Our task tonight was to sort through a load of these donations and help organise their storage system.

As with any catch-all store, there are a few departments at RAK: Mens, Womens, Kids and Toiletries. All of these areas needed reorganising and tidying up. A recent fire inspection suggesting that all cardboard should be disposed of where possible so any items in boxes needed repacking. There were also a whole load of unsorted donations that needed to be split into department or discarded, if the quality was below-par. We separated into groups and did what GoodGym does best - use many hands to make light work. Always amazing how much can be done in a short period of time!

Welcome to Kitty and John on your first tasks! Excellent to meet you and hope to see you next time :)

This week’s task saw us making the most of the lighter evenings with a lovely outdoor gardening session. Some of us ran, others walked or cycled, but we all met for a productive evening in two local green spaces: Canbury Community Garden and our nearby GoodGym garden.

With a big group on hand, we got loads done. One of the main jobs was reinforcing the sides of some well-worn raised beds that were bursting with growing vegetables - Marie-Noelle and Emily took on this key task.

With water levels in the Community Garden’s rain butts already dropping, Luke, Dave, Yana, Sabir and Emma wheeled barrels over to the Thames, collecting water in buckets to fill the barrels which were then wheeled back and stored in the flower beds for future use.

Meanwhile, Ana, Emily and Jana tackled the massive compost heap, giving it a good turning over. Sabir, Yana and Dave got stuck into weeding duties.

Over at the GoodGym garden, Claire, Luke and Emma checked on this flourishing space—full of tulips, daffodils, and established shrubs—taking care of deadheading, weeding, and with Claire making plans for future planting.

This was a Workout for Nature, a physical volunteering task supporting local green spaces in celebration of Earth Day, as part of a collaboration with WWF.

Great work, team!